Before Superman, Henry Cavill Starred In An Action Thriller Flop With Bruce Willis

Henry Cavill is, by all accounts, a big star with an enviable career. But there’s always been a certain tinge of unfulfilled potential to his journey. The British actor was almost James Bond before Daniel Craig won the role for 2006’s “Casino Royale.” Then, when he did land the role of the Man of Steel in the now-defunct DCEU, Cavill proved to be a great Superman that never really got a great Superman movie. Then, after making a high-profile exit from Netflix’s “The Witcher” in 2022, Cavill announced he was back as Superman, before it was confirmed that he was, in fact, not back as Superman.

Despite these missteps and misfortunes, it’s not as if the actor has struggled for roles. Following his unfortunate Superman return that never was, Cavill announced that he’s starring in and executive producing a “Warhammer 40,000” series for Amazon and is currently gearing up to star in the long-awaited “Highlander” remake. Cavill is also set to lend his jawline to another fan-favorite geek franchise by fronting a “Voltron” movie. So, while he may never have been Bond, and never had his chance to really shine as Supes, the actor is at least living out his geek fantasies on-screen.

Long before any of this transpired, however, the British star was still just trying to find his way in Hollywood. As part of that journey, and just a year before he starred in “Man of Steel,” he managed to land a role opposite Bruce Willis in 2012 action thriller “The Cold Light of Day.” But once again, this entry in his filmography felt like more unfulfilled potential — mainly because the film wasn’t very good.

While Henry Cavill was working hard to establish himself during the 2000s, Bruce Willis had been around long enough to have gone from established star to what some might call a rent-a-star. At least, he was about to enter that lamentable phase of his career, which saw the screen legend starring in a dizzying array of direct-to-DVD films that were typically of the action thriller variety and had single-word titles like “Vice” and “Breach.” Of course, we now know that Willis was suffering from a degenerative disease which may have played into his decision to take on these films, which were, however you slice it, beneath him. In 2022, Willis’ family announced that the actor would be retiring from acting following a diagnosis of aphasia, before confirming that he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2023.

It wouldn’t be until the mid to late 2010s that this era of middling Willis actioners really began in earnest, but looking back on the man’s late career there were hints of the coming wave of mediocrity just as Cavill himself was about to become a big star — 2012’s “The Cold Light of Day” being one example.

This action thriller from French filmmaker Mabrouk El Mechri starred Cavill as business consultant Will Shaw, who is given 24 hours to return a stolen briefcase to the shady characters who kidnap his family. As it turns out, his own father, played by Willis, was the one who took the briefcase in the first place as part of his secret life as a CIA agent. After learning the truth Will is forced to figure out how to beat his family’s captors before time runs out. Unfortunately, none of that added up to a very good movie.

Prior to “The Cold Light of Day,” director Mabrouk El Mechri delivered 2008 satirical crime drama “JCVD,” in which Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a fictionalized version of himself. While that particular project was met with a positive critical response, El Mechri’s Henry Cavill-led follow-up was, emphatically, not. The film currently bears a devastating 4% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where 48 reviews have been collected and only three of them are somewhat positive. What’s more “The Cold Light of Day” has a lowly 2.6 out of 10 average rating, which refers to the actual grades, star ratings, and scores handed out by critics. 

What was so egregious about El Mechri’s movie? Well, Calum Marsh of Slant Magazine wrote that the film “relates more or less the same story as ‘Spy Kids,’ though in this case the kid is in his late 20s and the spy stuff is much less believable or robust.” Slightly less searing but no less critical was Sheri Linden’s review for the Los Angeles Times, in which she wrote, “The script throws around phrases like ‘intel,’ ‘terrorist and ‘rogue operative,’ but as time bombs go, the briefcase-versus-loved-ones ultimatum barely ticks.”

Meanwhile, other critics were throwing around phrases like “tedious stinker,” “catastrophe,” and “accidentally funny stuff.” Adding insult to injury, the film only made $16.8 million at the global box office on an estimated budget of $20 million. If anything, then, the movie is lucky to not be a 0-percenter on Rotten Tomatoes, which would make it tied with 2005’s “Hellraiser: Hellworld” for Cavill’s worst-reviewed film on the site. 

Still, “The Cold Light of Day” is at least not Willis’ worst-rated film, as the actor ensured several 0-percenters were added to his filmography during his late-career run. But knowing what we know about his personal struggles during those years, those movies surely don’t count. All of which means that Henry Cavill has the distinction of starring alongside Willis in what is arguably his actual worst film.